


Mumble: Meet Your Soulmate!

by xslytherclawx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Autistic Rolf Scamander, Bisexual Penny Haywood, Bisexual Rolf Scamander, Gay Charlie Weasley, Jewish Rolf Scamander, M/M, Nonbinary Rowan Khanna, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romantic Soulmates, Technology, dating apps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22706326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: Before the app, there were call lines. Before the call lines, there were agencies. Before the agencies, there were matchmakers.It’s always been very much an opt-in sort of system.Of course, this all depends on where you are. And who you are.-In which there have always been ways to find your soulmate, but now? There's an app for that.
Relationships: Rolf Scamander & Penny Haywood, Rolf Scamander/Charlie Weasley
Comments: 22
Kudos: 31
Collections: All Your Faves Are Jewish, Hermione's Nook RarePair Soulmate Fest, xslytherclawx & thestias's harry potter multiverse, xslytherclawx's Prompt Collection, xslytherclawx's jewish fic, xslytherclawx’s events collection





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For this fest, my pairing was Rolf Scamander/Charlie Weasley, and the trope/prompt I was assigned was "Every night you receive a message about a random sentence your soulmate has said that day."
> 
> I didn't quite finish it in time, so I've decided to post it in instalments. 
> 
> Huge thanks to Becca for giving me the (much better) name for the titular app when I was super unhappy with what I'd come up with!

Before the app, there were call lines. Before the call lines, there were agencies. Before the agencies, there were matchmakers.

It’s always been very much an opt-in sort of system.

Of course, this all depends on where you are. And  _ who _ you are.

Rolf’s maternal grandparents met through a matchmaker. Someone with the gift (or at least someone who claimed to have the gift). There were already agencies around at that time, of course; it was the sixties, and Israel has pretty much always had agencies for any given thing.

His parents met through one of those agencies. Well, kind of.

His father, as a Jewish young adult from the diaspora, had been eligible for Taglit, or Birthright, and his parents insisted that he participate in that first before fucking off to a kibbutz in the middle of nowhere for a year.

His mother was one of the Israeli students accompanying his father’s group.

The trip included a visit to a matchmaking agency, and, well, when the sentence you said that day included a reference to your parents that you’d really just said, or a line of a conversation you’d held with your soulmate the previous day, it was kind of hard to deny.

Rolf doesn’t know about that. He was ineligible for Birthright, as he’s technically an Israeli citizen. So instead, he spent a gap year in a kibbutz, and that was fine with him. Half his family is Israeli; he was half raised there, and he has an Israeli passport – he’s never really understood the wholly diaspora relationship to Israel. 

His sister met her soulmate through a matchmaker at the same kibbutz: a girl from the west coast with shiny blonde hair and an almost alarmingly friendly personality.

The problem is that Rolf moves around so much, it’s hard to imagine anyone finite.

It’s not like he’s never dated anyone. He’s had girlfriends and boyfriends and everything in between, sometimes hook ups or friends with benefits, but sometimes quite serious. But that’s different from a soulmate.

His friend Penny badgers him to get the app. Her parents met through a call line. She hasn’t met her soulmate yet, but it’s not for lack of trying.

“My friend Rowan met their soulmate through the app,” she says. “It’s totally real. Besides, would a Jewish matchmaker tell you if your soulmate isn’t Jewish?”

He knows the answer there. Even the Israeli agencies tend to be a little stubborn in that respect, though he knows people who have been told of a non-Jewish soulmate. (Though those soulmates always seem to convert… maybe they have a file somewhere on that, too). He doesn’t think most schadchanim would match him with a man, either, though he knows the Israeli agencies would (well, the ones that aren’t strictly Orthodox, at least).

“There are progressive Jewish agencies in the diaspora that would. But most progressive Jews don’t use matchmakers anymore.” It’s a relic of a bygone era, with a few exceptions. The fact that his entire family (except his paternal grandparents, though that’s arguable) has met their soulmates through schadchanim is more a fluke than a feature.

“So use the app!” Penny says.

He’s aware she won’t let up, and he doesn’t really trust the app to give him a viable result, so he caves and downloads it. It asks for all kinds of personal information – everything short of his social security number (though it  _ does _ ask for his passport number, and he has to give them both: Israeli and American). It all makes him very uncomfortable, but he knows the app is legally bound not to sell his information.

Once all the information has been input, he gets a pleasantly neutral screen asking him about his preferences. Does he want to be matched even if his soulmate doesn’t meet certain criteria? (It’s not like he’s never considered the fact that some people might rule out the possibility of having a bisexual, autistic Jew as a soulmate, especially one who holds Israeli citizenship and all that entails — and  _ American _ citizenship and all  _ that _ entails, but it’s still an unpleasant reminder).

Rolf taps the option that he wants to meet his soulmate with no caveats, though he’s not quite sure, personally, how he’d cope with a soulmate who’s racist or antisemitic or homophobic or ableist. If he has to worry about that, he’ll do so when the time comes. 

The app accepts his input, and informs him that it will update once a “uniquely selected, highly qualified matchmaking professional” analyses his profile. It asks him to set up push notifications. He accepts. 

And then there’s nothing to do but wait. 

* * *

Two weeks later, he’s walking to the Tube station on his way home when his watch vibrates.

He expects it to be a text from his sister, who is eight hours behind and hasn’t seemed to quite understand the time difference yet, but he’s surprised when it’s an alert from the app.

> **Mumble:** update from your soulmate!

He taps on the app, quite honestly surprised to see that there’s any result. 

The app’s home screen has changed. The top off the app reads _**MUMBLE** ,_ and below that the tagline, _Meet Your Soulmate!_ , and in the center of the screen, he can see the update:

> **Yesterday, 16 January 2019,** your soulmate said: “God, I fucking hate that song.”

Well. That's rather anticlimactic. 

There's an option for more information, so he taps that. 

> _ Disclaimer: While we are soulmate experts, there is always room for error. Our deductions, while backed in hard data and superior training, may not always be 100% accurate. Please use the information on this page at your own discretion.  _

That isn't quite reassuring, but Rolf taps that he understands, and sees a quite _impressive_ set of information.

> **Soulmate name:** unknown
> 
> **Soulmate sex:** unknown
> 
> **Soulmate gender:** unknown 
> 
> **Soulmate sexual orientation:** unknown

Height, weight, hair colour, eye colour, religion, and sense of fashion (really?) are also all unknown. 

But nationality isn't. 

> **Soulmate nationality:** United Kingdom (England)
> 
> **Primary language spoken:** English
> 
> **Other languages spoken:** unknown
> 
> **Soulmate time zone:** GMT

The only other thing in the app that has been filled out is under dislikes;  _ the song “Thrift Store” by Macklemore.  _

Rolf really can't fault his soulmate that. 

* * *

Rolf knows the math. He knows that most people meet their soulmates. A lot of the time, they even realise it. It makes sense, when you think about it. If someone is fate-bound to you, why wouldn’t you meet them?

He asks Penny if she knew the app gives so much information when she recommended it to him. 

“It’s not that it gives you _more_ information,” she says, “it’s that it takes all the information in the sentences and puts it together. Isn’t that what matchmakers and agencies do?”

“My parents didn’t need an agency to look into it that long. They knew immediately with the first sentence who it was. But… I think you have a point about matchmakers.”

Most days, the sentences are mundane. He can’t imagine how anyone can get enough information from these sentences to be sure of a soulmate match. He gets alerts for an order at Léon (which does, admittedly, significantly narrow down his soulmate’s location on that day, which of course was a day that Rolf doesn’t stop at any of the chain’s locations), for a greeting to a friend, for a comment about a film, for a complaint about a coworker.

There’s nothing Rolf can think of as identifying information. 

He slowly stops checking the statistics on the app, though he continues to read the push alerts.

His work takes him to France; it distracts him quickly and thoroughly. Of the push alerts, few sentences stick out. He still wants to meet his soulmate one day, but right now, his job is more important.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rolf finds himself back in London for a visit. Penny wants to watch her favorite YouTubers

He’s back in London for a conference before he even thinks to check the statistics page again. To his surprise, it’s much more complete than he anticipated. It even lists his soulmate’s hair colour.

And gender (male).

And sexuality (gay).

His soulmate is a man.

He’s always expected as much, really. He’s always been on the higher end of the Kinsey scale, though he knows that’s true of his father, too, whose soulmate is Rolf’s mother. His sister is on the lower end of the Kinsey scale, and her soulmate is a woman. But he’s still always kind of had a feeling.

He’s still no closer, really, than he’s been this whole time. But it’s reassuring to see the information all laid out. It makes him feel like he knows his soulmate, at least a little bit.

He knows he doesn’t, really.

* * *

Rolf knows that some people accuse him of being a workaholic, but it’s not as if he doesn’t know how to relax and have fun.

The best way for him to do that in London is to curl up with Penny’s cat, split a bottle of wine, and watch YouTube videos. Her favourite YouTubers at the moment are a set of redheaded twin comedians who call themselves Gred and Forge.

She puts on their second most recent video, which is titled  _ Gred and Forge (and friends) Review MUMBLE. _

He doesn’t watch a lot of YouTube videos, but Penny’s shown him enough Gred and Forge videos to know that they do this sometimes; invite their friends and family on to review something with them.

Rolf hardly expects anything more than an enjoyable, funny sponsored video, but it’s the sort of low-key night where he really doesn’t mind it.

The video opens in their studio, with the twins in focus.

“Hello everyone!” they both say.

“I’m Gred —”

“— And I’m Forge —”

“— And it’s time for another edition of —”

“— Gred and Forge Review Stuff!” they finish together.

“Shall I start, Gred?”

“Go ahead, Forge.”

“This week, we’ve decided to review the soulmate app Mumble.”

“Naturally, this video is sponsored,” Gred says.

“And I, for one, won’t complain that I’ve still not met my soulmate despite using the app for some time.”

“Can’t be doing that. They might revoke our sponsorship.”

“But most of our brothers haven’t met their soulmates –”

“Perce is quite glad he’s got an excuse to miss this one.”

Forge leans in conspiratorially. “He doesn’t know we’ve got our revenge planned.”

“Even though Bill’s married his soulmate —”

“— They’re  _ disgusting _ together —”

“— they’ve both agreed to take part as a sort of control group.”

“They were set up at their uni’s agency, so if the app doesn’t work, I expect there will be  _ words _ with —” A censor pops up over Forge’s mouth as the audio bleeps out. A subtitle reads  _ [redacted].  _ “— agency.”

“Oh, absolutely, Forge.”

“But it ought to spice things up.”

Gred pulls out his phone and shows the camera his screen. “Now, I’ve just downloaded the app today, and Forge has had it for a while —”

“It takes the sentences your soulmate says —”

“— Well, just the ones it sends you —”

“— And it takes that information —”

“— And puts it all in a nice little page for you —”

“— So you can see all that information at once!”

“Naturally, we’ve had a few of us using the app for  _ ages _ to see how much we could get together —”

“— And now we’re going to test it out.”

“With some help, of course.”

“Our friends have agreed to help us out today.”

“That way we’ve got more people than just us —”

“— This is all quite scientific.”

“That it is, Forge.” Gred winks.

The camera cuts to a classically handsome man who looks a bit familiar, but maybe that’s just his face.

“Now, Cedric,” one of the twins says over voiceover, “how long have you been using the app?”

The man – Cedric – smiles. “About a week, now.”

“And you’ve no idea who your soulmate is?”

“None whatsoever.”

“Never gone to any agency?”

“Never. I’ve got no clue who my soulmate could be.”

The camera cuts then to a black guy with dreads.

“Lee, how long have  _ you _ been using the app?”

“A year, give or take.”

“And you’ve not me your soulmate?”

Lee laughs. “Not yet.”

It cuts again, this time to an absolutely gorgeous couple: a ginger man and a blonde woman.

“God, I’m so fucking bisexual, it’s not even funny,” Penny says.

Rolf taps his glass to hers. “I’ll drink to that.”

One of the twins, meanwhile, says, “Bill and Fleur, you’re soulmates.”

“Of course,” the woman says. “Though your mother wasn’t very happy about that.”

“Don’t take it personally,” one of the twins says. “She’d hate Celestina Warbeck if she had the misfortune to be Bill’s soulmate.”

“Yeah,” the other twin agrees, “Bill’s always been her favourite.”

“Well, and Ginny,” the first twin says.

Bill interrupts them. “Anyway, yes, we’re soulmates. We’d both registered at our uni’s agency. Neither of us expected it to work.”

“But it did!” Fleur says.

“And you’ve both downloaded the app?”

“We have, yeah.”

The video cuts to a brown-skinned guy with messy, curly hair and dark green eyes wearing a soccer jersey. 

“Harold.”

“Not my name, Forge.”

“Your parents really just named you  _ Harry _ without it being short for anything?”

“Maybe I’m named for Harrison Ford.”

“He’s named for his granddad!” someone shouts from off-camera.

“Cheers, Ron!”

“Harry’s granddad is Harrison Ford. I can’t believe it.”

The other twin says, “You heard it here first.”

Harry shrugs. “Well, he  _ did _ film in London for  _ Star Wars, _ didn’t he?”

“And the maths check out,” one of the twins says.

“What can I say?” Harry says.

“You use the app?”

“Only for about a month.”

“And clue who your soulmate is?”

“No. I’ve not checked it.”

“Excellent.”

It cuts then to someone who has to be one of the twins’ brothers. He’s got more freckles than Rolf has ever seen. He’s buff, though Rolf quite honestly thinks it must be some sort of crime that the man is wearing a shirt. Short-sleeved, but still.

“Some of our more longtime viewers may remember our brother Charlie,” one of the twins says.

“He’s spent the past few years taming dragons in Romania.”

Charlie blushes. “I’ve told you, I wasn’t taming dragons. I was —”

“We know,” both of the twins say in unison.

Charlie rolls his eyes. “I’ve been using the app for about six months. Of my own accord.”

“Sure you have.”

“Of course I have. Some of us don’t need to be offered money to try to find our soulmate.”

Rolf can swear his heart skips a beat at that, and he’s aware that the video is still going, but he can’t make sense of it. He reaches for his phone. The app has a log of previous sentences, doesn’t it?

He searches until he finds it. Two and a half weeks ago: _“Some of us don’t need to be offered money to try to find our soulmate.”_

He knows that doesn’t mean that it’s the same person as the gorgeous man in the video. But still. It’s a hell of a coincidence if it’s not.

The video cuts to someone else, so Rolf feels safe enough going to the stats page.

Name, sex, height, and weight were still listed as “unknown”, but other things were filled.

> **Soulmate hair colour:** ginger
> 
> **Soulmate eye colour:** unknown 
> 
> **Soulmate religion:** Christian
> 
> **Soulmate sense of fashion:** sensible
> 
> **Soulmate nationality:** United Kingdom (England)
> 
> **Primary language spoken:** English (United Kingdom: England)
> 
> **Other languages spoken:** Romanian (.05204982%), Spanish (.00000321%), French (.00000095%)
> 
> **Soulmate time zone:** GMT
> 
> **Soulmate occupation:** Other – nonprofit

He searches the list for anything to further identify his soulmate — as the man in the video, or as someone else.

Penny taps his arm. “I think Charlie is properly your type.”

He looks up. The video is now split screened. In one half, Charlie is scrolling through the app while in the other half, the mobile display is shown.

“As you can see, it’s mostly random information, and not much that I could use to identify him. My soulmate is a man — which I could have told you, because I’m  _ quite _ gay — and he’s bi, but beyond that…” He scrolls and stops at languages. “Speaks English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish.”

Well, Rolf doesn’t properly speak Yiddish, but the app might consider the Yiddish words and phrases he  _ does _ use in English as actually _speaking_ Yiddish. It’s not out of the question.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if he were your soulmate?” Penny asks.

“Yeah,” Rolf agrees weakly.

“He’s in my time zone, which does sort of narrow it down, I guess. But most of the information, as you can see, is incidental. Taste in films, his order at Léon, if he’s got any siblings — nothing that really tells me who he is.”

“How unfortunate,” one of the twins says. “Guess you’ll have to die alone, Charlie.”

Charlie opens his mouth – to protest or to curse him out – but then the video cuts to Harry, in the same style.

It certainly  _ seems _ like Charlie might be his soulmate. But what is he supposed to do about it if he is? It’s hardly as if he can just comment on the video that he thinks he’s Charlie’s soulmate.

Not without more finite information, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not generally a fan of YouTuber AUs, but let's be real: YouTube comedians is peak Fred and George in a modern muggle au.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rolf finds something (or someone) interesting on Tinder

He visits Penny for the first weekend in January. He’s just spent Chanukah split between his sister and sister-in-law in Tel Aviv and his Uncle Asher and his family in Jerusalem. He’s not quite ready to go home to his lonely little studio apartment in Paris just yet, especially after a week with family. It’s just easier to get a flight through to London, and crash on Penny’s pull-out sofa for a few nights.

He’s swiping idly through Tinder as Penny paints his toenails gold when he sees a set of arms he’d recognise anywhere. It’s not a face pic, but that’s hardly unusual. The man’s broad, muscular torso, freckles, and ginger hair really only support Rolf’s theory.

**C., 30, 2.7 miles away.**

“Penny?”

“Yeah?”

“You know those YouTubers you like? The twins?”

“What about them?”

“I think I just found their brother on Tinder.”

She looks up. “Ooh! Swipe right!”

He looks down at the photo on his screen. “You think I should?”

“Absolutely! Get that arse! Or cock! I know he’s gay, but he’s gorgeous. It _is_ the gay one, right? With the arms?”

“Yeah,” Rolf says. He keeps looking at the photo.

Fuck it. He swipes right.

* * *

He feels nervous, which makes him feel ridiculous. He’s hooked up with strangers before. It’s 2020, and he’s a twenty-eight-year-old bisexual man.

But there’s a decent chance – maybe even a better-than-decent chance – that the man he’s meeting tonight is his soulmate. And  _ that _ is what makes him nervous.

He takes the Tube to Bethnal Green, and when he steps out of the station, he gets a text from Penny.

Penny: Let me know if you’re spending the night [blowing kiss emoji]

He sends he a thumbs up and heads to the pub Charlie asked to meet him at.

He recognises Charlie immediately – he’s more handsome in person than online, and his arms. Oh, god, his  _ arms. _ He’s not sure why his first thought is that he wants to lick them, but that’s where his mental state is right now.

Charlie recognises him, too.

“It’s Rolf, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Charlie. You want a pint?”

“Sure,” Rolf agrees.

“Fuller’s?”

“That’d be great, thanks.”

Charlie winks at him. “I’ll be right back.”

Ten minutes later, they’re sat at one of the tables in the corner.

“My flatmates have a rule about not inviting anyone round the flat without getting a pint with them first.”

“Makes sense,” Rolf says. He still feels a bit nervous, but the beer  _ is _ helping take the edge off.

“So what do you do?”

“Uh, right now, I work for a Jewish nonprofit in Paris – mostly social work type stuff for low-income families. We, uh, focus a lot on Jewish families, but really, we try to help as many people as we can, regardless of religion or culture.”

Something flashes across Charlie’s face, but Rolf has never been good at reading people. “That’s amazing! I’m in nonprofit, too. Er, animal welfare for me, though.”

“That’s what I used to do,” Rolf says. “But one of my cousins told me about the vacancy in Paris, and it was already time for a change – and I’m fluent in French.”

Charlie raises his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah. My, uh – well, my grandfather and grandmother were both – well, they were born in Egypt, but their families emigrated to France when they were young. My mom was actually born in France. And then they all emigrated to Israel when she was seven. So my mom grew up speaking French and Ladino at home, and Hebrew at school, and my dad took French in school, so – they raised my sister and I to speak French and English. And Hebrew, too, but that came a little later.”

“Wow. That’s – that’s really impressive. I took French in uni, but I don’t remember much of it. My parents are lovely people, but the most they can say in another language is their curry order.”

“Oh, a lot of people are like that, especially in anglophone countries. My sister-in-law’s family only speaks English. She learned Hebrew as a teenager, but…”

“Is she American, too?”

Rolf nods. “Yeah. Though she and my sister live in Tel Aviv now.”

“What do they do?”

“My sister is a teacher, and her wife is a vet. What about you? You said you have siblings?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve got five brothers and a sister.”

“That’s – a lot.”

“Yeah,” Charlie says. “I’m the second-oldest.”

“Are they all in England?”

“Yeah. Most of them around London, actually. I see them a lot more often now that I live here, too.”

“I’ve actually got family here, too. My granddad – my dad’s father – is English. His brother has kids and grandkids, and I see them sometimes.”

“The most I’ve got is a French sister-in-law. You seem to have family all over.”

Rolf shrugs. “I guess. How’d your brother meet his wife?”

“At uni. It was quite the scandal, really. He was twenty-two and she was eighteen.”

“Scandalous,” Rolf jokes.

Charlie laughs. “Well, it is if you ask my mother. She also thought it was a bit of a scandal that I was going to do nonprofit work, but I think that was more because we didn’t grow up with a lot of money,  _ and _ it was taking me away from England.”

“You said you work in animal welfare – would I know your organization?”

“Maybe. It’s the Scamander Foundation. The London office, obviously.”

Oh, well, shit. “Really?”

“Yeah. Though I’ve only been at the London office for just over a year, now. Before, I was doing work in Romania. A lot of field work, rehabilitation, things like that.”

“Newt Scamander is my granddad,” Rolf says before he can think better of it.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.” To prove his point, he finds a photo of himself with his granddad on his phone and shows it to Charlie. “This is from Passover last year.”

“Jesus Christ,” Charlie says as he looks it over. “He’s quite honestly one of my heroes. But – is he why you changed gears?”

“Not  _ him _ – and not  _ just _ him. I mean, it  _ was _ annoying to have people think I’d only gotten to where I was because I’m related ot him, but I genuinely needed a change. Ironically, I got my current post through my mother’s cousin. But no one assumes that’s nepotism, because the company doesn’t have our name on it.”

“I think I can imagine.”

“I know it can be a hard world to break into without connections, but – listen. I’m hyphenated, and I used the half that’s my mom’s name on my applications, and I asked my dad and granddad not only not to say anything, but also to push other people with less privilege who were more qualified. Which they would have done anyway, but I wanted to make sure.”

“That’s actually really admirable.”

“Thanks, but honestly, who goes into the nonprofit sector for fame and fortune?”

“People who’ve got the wrong idea.”

* * *

He spends the night at Charlie’s flat. 

Charlie is kind, warm, sexy, and fucking amazing in bed. If this is his soulmate, he’s really lucked out.

Charlie even makes him breakfast and introduces him to his flatmates, Tonks and Ben. Rolf knows he’s expected at work on Monday, and he’s certainly not going to jeopardise his job for a man (nor would he for a woman), but it’s a nice moment.

“I know you live in Paris,” Charlie says, “and I’m not expecting anything, but this was fun. So, er, if you find yourself in London again…”

“I’m sure I will.”

Charlie smiles. “I can give you my number. If you, er, want to, er, hook up again.”

“I’d like that,” Rolf says. “And if you find yourself in Paris, feel free to text me.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie visits Rolf in Paris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay!

In the beginning of February, scarcely a month after he meets (and hooks up with) Charlie for the first time, all anyone can talk about is this storm sweeping across Europe. Rolf’s been fielding concerned texts about the storm all day – mostly from friends and family outside of Europe – when he gets a text from Charlie.

**Messages with** Charlie  
  
**Charlie:** Shit timing but   
  
**Charlie:** I’ll be in Paris next week and I’d like to see you   
  


Rolf texts him back immediately. He knows all the adages about waiting and not seeming overeager, but he doesn’t particularly care about that. If Charlie is his soulmate, then he’s his  _ soulmate, _ which means he’ll have to get used to it (if it even bothers him in the first place).

**Messages with** Charlie  
  
**Rolf:** That’d be great! I’ll be here  
  
**Charlie:** Great   
  


Then he realises the state of his apartment. He  _ really _ needs to clean. At least he has time, now. He certainly isn’t about to go outside and brave Paris in a storm that has the entire continent in a panic.

* * *

He meets Charlie at a café by the Odéon métro stop on Thursday afternoon. It’s unseasonably warm, with the storm having long passed, but Rolf still wears a winter coat and scarf. It’s not his heaviest, but even without a major storm, Paris is windier than the temperature itself leads one to believe.

He can actually see Charlie emerge from the métro station. He recognises him immediately. He feels his heart stutter in his chest.

He has, over the past month, become increasingly certain that Charlie is his soulmate. He’s scoured the app data, his text messages, and even Gred and Forge’s videos that feature him.

It all adds up.

He just hasn’t heard words come from Charlie’s mouth that he knows for sure have come up in the app the next day.

He only has a few seconds before Charlie sees him to compose himself. He can tell the second Charlie sees him; he actually seems to brighten. That’s good news, isn’t it?

Charlie’s across the street and in front of him before Rolf has fully thought through what he wants to say.

“It’s so good to see you!” Charlie says, looking so handsome. How did Rolf forget how absolutely fucking gorgeous he is?

“It’s great to see you, too,” Rolf says. He wants to reach out to him, to kiss him, even, but he doesn’t. It’s not that he’s all that worried about a negative reaction from the people around him, but more that he’s not sure where Charlie stands on PDA, and that’s probably something to clear up first.

He’s not even sure where Charlie stands on… whatever it is they have. It’s reasonable to assume that this is just a casual hook up. That there’s nothing more to it for him.

Which would be fine if he weren’t pretty sure that Charlie is his soulmate.

Charlie orders a coffee in stilted French (which is adorable), and they both sit for a while and talk.

He’s in town for his sister-in-law’s sister’s birthday; she’s requested his whole family come.

“They put us up in some fancy hotel. I wasn’t about to refuse, but… I do have to share my room with my brother Ron.”

“Is that bad?” Rolf asks. He and his sister have a pretty good relationship, though he thinks they’re both probably a little old to share a room together very well. (Especially if Morgan would be there, too).

“Not at all. Well. Usually. But I thought it’d be nice to see you, too. I honestly didn’t think I could manage the time away from work, but my mum insisted, and she’s quite the force of nature.”

“Oh?”

“You’ve got no idea. You should meet her.”

He should what? But maybe Charlie is just being hyperbolic. Surely he doesn’t actually want some guy he’s hooked up with once to meet his mother. That would be ridiculous.

“I’ve never really understood overbearing mom stories. My mom’s always been really… chill. I don’t think she’s ever really pressured me into anything. Not even extracurriculars.” He’s aware, as he says it, that this is counter to every Jewish mother stereotype (which he has to admit isn’t  _ entirely _ untrue, generally speaking, but the closest his mother gets to that stereotype is fussing over him, which he thinks every decent mother probably does).

“What’s that like?”

“It’s nice. I mean, my bubbe and my uncle Max are both pretty pushy, so I guess they make up for it.”

“Yeah?”

“My uncle’s told me in no uncertain terms that he expects to be the first person told when I meet my soulmate. Not my parents, not my sister; my uncle.”

Charlie chuckles awkwardly and sips at his coffee. “My mum’s that way.”

“Then I hope you at least have a totally cool uncle to who lets you get away with anything.”

“Two of them, actually: Fabian and Gideon, and Mum thinks they’re a terrible influence.”

* * *

Charlie spends the night.

Rolf has trouble sleeping. It’s nothing to do with Charlie.

It’s just that when he tries to sleep, his nerves are so fried; he’s so overstimulated from that fucking amazing orgasm that even Charlie’s soft even breaths on his skin, or his arm draped across his chest quickly becomes too much, so he slides out of bed as carefully as possible to lie down on the sofa.

It’s nothing unusual. His nerves are often fried after good sex. It’s just that he usually doesn’t have to physically sleep next to the person he’s just had sex with.

Or, at least, he doesn’t have to worry about offending his probable soulmate by sleeping on the sofa.

He knows, if Charlie is his soulmate, that this is something they’ll both have to get used to. Rolf might need to buy a bigger bed, so that he can move away and manage to sleep in the bed.

The couch is uncomfortable (especially since Rolf is over six feet tall, and the sofa is… not), but he knows better than to crawl back into bed with a man who cuddles in his sleep when his nerves still feel like they’re on fire.

He gets up to get some water when his watch vibrates, which is probably the least pleasant thing that could happen to him at the moment. He decides to take the watch off when he sees it.

The alert.

12:01 AM.  **Mumble:** update from your soulmate!

He’s still up.

It’s after midnight.

He might as well check the app. On the off-chance it’s actually something.

**Yesterday, 13 February 2020,** your soulmate said: “Two of them, actually: Fabian and Gideon.”

Well, there’s no doubt about it now: Charlie is his soulmate.

He just has to figure out how to tell him now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just one chapter left!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Valentine's Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we're at the end, here!

It’s Valentine’s Day.

It hits him as he wakes up in Charlie’s – his soulmate’s – arms.

He managed to go back to bed last night after his nerves no longer felt fried, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t get overstimulated again, and he knew he’d sleep better in his own bed with Charlie than he could alone on his sofa. And now, he can see that it was worth it.

He’s with his soulmate on Valentine’s Day.

Of course, growing up in a hippy, Reconstructionist Israeli-American family as he did, Rolf’s never  _ really _ celebrated Valentine’s Day. Not really. His parents have always celebrated Tu B’Av instead of Valentine’s Day, as they prefered celebrating an actual Jewish holiday over a commercialized Christian one.

He went to a Jewish day school, and… after a certain age, the awkwardness and annoyingness have tended to mean that people think he’s weirder than he is. Not that he thinks there’s anything  _ wrong _ with him. He knows there isn’t. But, in his experience, neurotypical people tend to find him a lot to handle.

Something tells him Charlie won’t, though. He hopes that feeling is right. If he’s totally honest, he’s not totally sure Charlie is even neurotypical, for that matter. It’s kind of difficult to imagine having a neurotypical soulmate. But that’s something they can discuss later.

“Morning,” Charlie whispers, and god, Rolf could just  _ melt. _ Charlie’s accent is  _ unbearably _ sexy. He’d always hoped, when he was a kid, that his soulmate wouldn’t end up being another American, and look at him now.

“Morning.”

“It’s Valentine’s Day.”

“I – yeah. I just realized that, too.”

What a way to start the most widely celebrated western love-related holiday: waking up in his soulmate’s arms. Even if he’s never celebrated the holiday before. And he hasn’t told Charlie they’re soulmates.

He should probably do that. 

He kisses Charlie (his soulmate; god, that’s so strange to think). “Maybe we should shower? I know a great place for breakfast.”

Charlie smiles. “Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

After they shower (and go for another quick round, though it’s just swapping blow jobs this time), Rolf takes Charlie to one of his favourite vegan cafes – one that actually serves breakfast.

It’s not really French culture to have a full, hot breakfast, but Rolf doesn’t think Charlie will mind that it’s not  _ French. _ It is, in his opinion, the most delicious place to eat in Paris.

Rolf orders a veggie scramble with herbal tea, and Charlie orders vegan French toast and coffee.

“So,” Charlie says over his coffee. “Valentine’s Day.”

“Valentine’s Day.”

“I, er, I should probably tell you…”

Rolf braces himself for the inevitable: he has a boyfriend, he’s moving somewhere remote,  _ something _ that means they can’t be together. It’d only be too good to be true to actually get to be with his soulmate.

“What?”

“There’s a reason I texted you. Beyond, er, the really great sex. And the sex is –  _ really _ great.”

“Uh, okay… I mean, I think the sex is great, too, but… okay…”

“It’s just… I sort of… I have reason to believe…” Charlie takes a deep breath. “I think you’re my soulmate. I have – I use the app, and, er, last time, after – I mean, even before, I’d had an idea, because so much of what you said matched up! But – last time. The next morning, I’d got my alert, and it was – er, it was something you’d said. The night before. So.” He clears his throat.

Rolf really can’t quite say anything. For once, he’s speechless.

“I didn’t – I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry. I didn’t know how. And you were only in London for the weekend. And I needed to sort out  _ my _ feelings, and – that’s not the sort of thing you just say over WhatsApp, you know?”

“It’s okay,” Rolf says. “I, uh. I know we’re soulmates. I mean, I  _ thought _ you were, but this morning, I got my alert on the app, and that… confirmed it. And full disclosure, my best friend Penny is a huge fan of your brothers’ videos. And, uh, sometimes we watch them together, and I was – I was in London for a conference, so I stayed with Penny rather than book a hotel, and, uh, we ended up watching the Mumble video, and – I mean, a lot of the stuff you said about your soulmate kind of – made me think. But then you said something my soulmate had said two weeks before, so I thought – I mean, it wasn’t finite proof, but…”

Charlie smiles. “Glad we’re on the same page, at least.”

“Yeah,” Rolf agrees.

“What would you have done if you  _ hadn’t _ found me on Tinder?”

Rolf picks at his tofu scramble. “Probably just waited for something more finite. I mean. I know I could have at least contacted your brothers.”

“Oh, they’d have insisted on having you on the show. They probably still will, if I’m honest.”

“Maybe we can hold off a little for that,” Rolf says with a laugh.

“Trust me: I absolutely intend to put it off as long as possible. They can smell blood. It’s not something I want to submit anyone to. Least of all my soulmate.”

Least of all his soulmate. They’re soulmates. 

Rolf manages a laugh. “Understood.”

* * *

After much discussion on being  _ soulmates _ and their future, they decide to take things slow.

No one needs to relocate just yet, and they both love their jobs. They’re both doing good in the world, and a relationship, even with their soulmate, isn’t necessarily a good enough reason to move to a different country.

They see each other at least once a month, and text (and video chat) regularly. The sex, when they have it, is fantastic. They don’t need constant contact to feel secure and comfortable in their relationship.

They have all the time in the world, after all.

Or at least until Charlie’s brothers find out and force them both on their YouTube show.

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on [tumblr](https://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com/), and feel free to join my Harry Potter [discord server](https://discord.gg/yb6bS3c)!


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